Maternal Instinct
by Angela Kip
Summary: DISCONTINUED. When a young toddler is left on Aperture's doorstep, Caroline is forced into motherhood in order to protect the child. Years later, she tries to cope with the reality of being uploaded into GLaDOS...and abandoning her daughter forever.
1. Prologue

**A/N: As there is no real official Portal/Half-Life timeline, I have taken creative liberties with the timing of some of the events in this story. I hope you enjoy it anyway.**

**I don't own Portal.**

* * *

><p>The outside entrance to Aperture wasn't always a little shed in the middle of a wheat field, but it had never looked terribly appealing, either. If it had been an inviting-looking type of place, then Caroline would have assumed that the doorbell ringing meant it was Girl Scout cookie time, or that the neighborhood paper boy wanted to sell them a subscription, or that a few bored kids were ringing doorbells and running off for lack of anything else to do. But never in the history of Aperture had any of those things happened, so when Caroline opened the door and couldn't see a soul around for miles, she began to feel uneasy.<p>

Well, there had to be a logical explanation for all of this. There always was when you were a scientist.

"Hello?" she called out, not really expecting a reply. "Anybody there?" As she spoke, she took a step forward – and her foot collided with a basket.

She covered her mouth with both hands when she saw it, kneeling down for a closer look. Had her eyes just been playing tricks on her? But she had no such luck.

A tiny form lay motionless inside the basket, knees curled up to chest. The child had an arm slung over both eyes and was lying so still that Caroline immediately checked for a pulse (it was there, and a bit fast, probably from stress). It was quite a cramped basket – she guessed the baby to be about a year old, noting the marked size of the yellow sleeper that had clearly been outgrown some time ago. The only other thing he – or was it she? – wore was a torn head scarf with tiny pictures of bears on it. A blanket had been wrapped around the youngster, with an envelope carefully tucked into its folds.

Didn't this sort of thing only happen in movies?

She pulled the envelope out and opened it, seeing that it contained two pieces of paper. One contained just three hastily scrawled sentences:

_My mommy can't take care of me any longer. Please find me a home._

_My name is Chell._

The other was heavily water damaged, but she could see it had once been a legal document surrendering parental rights.

Aperture's secretary shoved the papers into her pocket and picked up the basket with trembling hands. As she did so, a rustling picked up from the nearby bushes, and Caroline spun around to see a girl of about seventeen running at top speed away from the little shed, her sandals slapping on the ground beneath her.

"Hey!" Caroline shouted after her. "Hey, come back!"

There was no indication that the teenager had heard her – she didn't even glance over her shoulder. Caroline looked down into the basket and saw that the baby's chin was quivering slightly, as though she was about to burst into tears. (Chell – that was a girl's name, wasn't it?) Still, no sound came from inside it, and with tremors racing through her, Caroline turned and rode the lift down to her boss's office.

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight." Cave Johnson looked up from his calculations to frown at Caroline, who was now cradling the young toddler in her arms. "Somebody just throws a kid into a basket and leaves her in front of our door, not making sure anyone's even <em>here<em>?"

"Essentially, sir, yes," Caroline replied, rocking Chell back and forth gently. "I saw her mother – I think it was her mother – but she ran away before I got a chance to speak with her."

"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable." Cave massaged his temples. "What in the hell are we supposed to do with a baby?"

"I don't know, sir," Caroline was forced to admit.

Cave looked up. "We could leave her on another doorstep," he pondered. "Or – hang on. Do we know anything about this kid?"

"Just her name, sir. Chell." Caroline frowned. "Or maybe it's pronounced _shell_. But aside from that, Mr. Johnson, there's nothing."

"No medical history? No relatives' names? Anything at all?" To all of these Caroline shook her head, and a wide grin spread over Cave's face. "Well, here's a solution to our lack of test subjects! She's got a nice long life ahead of her, and we won't even have to pay her!"

As if she understood, Chell wrapped her arms around the secretary's neck, resting her head on Caroline's shoulder. Caroline rubbed her back softly. "Sir, you _can't_ test on a child! She's helpless!"

"I pay the bills around here, I can test on a child all damn day if I want to." He scowled. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."

As Caroline looked at him, she realized she didn't have a good enough answer; part of her couldn't even understand why she was objecting in the first place, but she dismissed that quickly. This was the right thing to do. "Sir? Wouldn't it be better if I took her down to the medical wing and let Ashtyn look at her?" she asked, trying to buy herself time. "It would just be to make sure she's healthy. We don't even know if she can walk yet."

"Good point." He nodded approvingly. "Just don't stay down there too long. We've got science to do."

"Yes sir, Mr. Johnson." She turned to go, high heels clacking on the tile floor, taking the long way around to avoid passing the neurotoxin generator room. When she reached the lift, she paused and glanced over at Chell, who was looking around with interest.

She stroked a hand through the child's hair. "You haven't seen a science lab before, have you?" she asked, though she knew Chell didn't understand. "And it's _huge_ here. Bigger than anything Black Mesa's ever done."

Chell giggled silently, reaching out to press the glowing button for the lift. The secretary stooped down a little to let her. The doors opened with a soft _ping_ and she stepped inside. Chell was already busy again, running her fingers over the many pockets in Caroline's jacket. She seemed amazed that there were things inside, mostly scraps of paper and pens. The child reached for a small pocket mirror, pulling it out and dropping it on the floor before clapping her hands as though she'd just done something amazing.

"Hey, now, that has glass in it." Caroline knelt to pick it up and stuffed it back in her pocket. Chell just smiled. The secretary went on speaking to her. "How are we going to keep Mr. Johnson from testing on you? You're too young for that. There should be laws against this." She paused. "Actually, there probably already are." She kept a smile on her face for Chell's sake, mind racing as she tried to find a loophole in Cave's plan. Several of the employees had children who came to Aperture to spend the day with their parents once in a while. Why didn't Cave test on _them_? Of course: their parents would have sued. But the girl in her arms didn't have anyone like that anymore. There was nobody in the world to protect her now.

No. That wasn't true. The secretary swallowed hard, rubbing Chell's back soothingly. She knew what she had to do, and she knew that it was an impulsive move on her part. Caroline hadn't acted on impulse in more than thirty years, and the thought pushing her past that one was that it had been the impulse thirty years prior that had got her the job she'd more than likely hold until she went to her grave.

The doors opened and she walked briskly up to the check-in station. Ashtyn, the nurse on duty, was standing behind the desk entering some numbers into the computer.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Caroline," she said, but her eyes weren't on Cave's right-hand woman. "And who is this?"

Caroline forced a smile, trying to keep Chell from touching anything and everything that looked interesting. "Listen, Ashtyn," she began, "I need you to run a well-child visit on Chell here immediately. If there's a problem, give me a call; if not, I want you to run her through the full pre-testing safety treatment. Skeleton Resiliency Gel, numb the areas affected by the Advanced Knee Replacements, and so on." She paused. "Well, don't actually fit her for the Advanced Knee Replacements, but do everything else. Understand?"

To her credit, Ashtyn didn't pry. "I just need the information to put her into the database. That's C-H-E-L-L?"

"Yes. Put me down as her mother. Father unknown, surname redacted. Get the rest of the information from the files and let me know if you find anything unusual in her scans." She held out the child, murmuring, "I'll be back for you. I swear it." Chell nodded as if she understood.

Ashtyn took Chell in her arms. "Ms. Caroline, wait," she called, but Caroline was already walking away, moving as fast as she possibly could without jogging. She hadn't had the time to come up with the answers to any questions Ashtyn might ask.

* * *

><p>"Caroline. Good timing," Cave said as she entered, tapping his pen on the desk. "The lab boys just informed me that my calculations are wrong. They're insisting there is no way checks this large won't bounce. Take a look at this, will you?" He handed her several sheets of paper and she scanned through them quickly, gaze finally landing on the items he was planning to buy.<p>

"Well, sir, money aside, moon rocks aren't really a safe thing for the test subjects to be working with. Ground-up moon rocks actually happen to be – "

"Nonsense." He pointed to an empty chair, and she took a seat. "This will be a breakthrough in science, I'm sure of it. Besides, you know very well that I'm the only man I ever test dangerous things on."

"Sir? The Repulsion Gel?" she reminded him.

He brushed it off with a wave of his hand. "Well, back in the day, it made sure we didn't have any clumsy test subjects, didn't it? Now, I want you to look over these reports and find a way to make it work." He shoved a calculator across the desk at her. "I want a happy face on this, you understand?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Johnson…" She was very aware that the days of happy faces on calculators were long gone, as was he, but each guarded that like a well-kept secret. It was a sort of unspoken agreement.

In the silence that followed, she found it impossible to slip into the deep state of concentration that was second nature to her on a normal day. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Chell. Was Ashtyn taking good care of her? (That was silly. Caroline would have trusted the nurse with her life.) What if they found something in the scans? What if they forgot something in the pre-testing safety treatment and the child ended up injured or worse?

She gave a little shake of her head, forcing the thoughts away. If she was going to worry, it should at least be practical. How was she going to keep Cave from forcing Chell into testing?

Or to be more precise, how quickly was it possible to get through the adoption process from start to finish?


	2. Put Her in My Computer

Chapter One: Put Her in My Computer

A dark-haired woman stood over the sink, filling a glass with water. "Go back to bed, Chell," she said without turning around.

_Mama?_ the little girl said in sign language. She was three now, old enough to see what was going on around her and not old enough to understand it.

"Mama will be in in just a minute." She set the glass on the counter, motioning for her daughter to leave. When she didn't move: "I promise."

_Okay,_ Chell signed reluctantly.

When she was sure that Chell was out of sight, Caroline opened the cabinet and stretched to reach the very top shelf. She extracted two tiny bottles, and these she uncapped and shook vigorously over the palm of her hand. Two tiny white ovals with letters scratched into them, and from the other bottle, one fat red stick rounded at both ends. Pills to cure the craziness, the white ones to put a smile on her face and keep the bad thoughts away, the red one to let her fade to black without seeing the twitching bodies and the flesh melting off the bones of the test subjects.

Being Cave Johnson's assistant didn't just make you a good scientist. It made you a murderer. A murderer who needed to medicate away the scathing remarks her conscience made.

She killed the test subjects when she agreed with Cave's ridiculously unsafe testing standards. And now she was killing Cave by not having talked him out of buying seventy million dollars' worth of moon rocks and grinding them up. She knew she never could have changed his mind, but at the same time she hadn't even tried. And in the end, Cave was killing her in return with the GLaDOS project. Caroline hated GLaDOS with every fiber of her being. It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd started work a little earlier, or had the funding a little sooner, or done _anything_ a little bit before they had. Because GLaDOS wasn't going to be ready for another year at the very least, and Cave...well, who knew how long Cave had left?

When the moon rock poisoning had set in, he'd gone straight down to Aperture Hospital. The man may have been crazy, but he wasn't foolish. It had taken a full week to get the results of the medical tests in, a week full of nail biting and shifting one's feet nervously. The results had come in one Friday evening just as Cave had been preparing to leave, with Caroline already halfway out the door.

They said it was terminal. They gave him a year to live.

* * *

><p>Every morning Caroline ignored the <em>DO NOT ENTER<em> sign across the door that led to GLaDOS's chamber and went in to check up on the project at Mr. Johnson's request. She always nodded to the two young men sitting by a red telephone. On this particular morning, one was writing on a small pad of paper, while the other one was watching a screen intensely. The latter wore headphones and was pressing his temples, muttering something to himself.

"Good to see you, Caroline," the one who had been writing said. "What did Johnson say about her today?" He didn't have to explain who _her_ was.

"Nothing this morning, Richard," she replied good-naturedly. "I'm just here to check up on her. Am I correct in assuming that we have a problem?" She squinted at the screen, watching the text fly by far too quickly to be read.

"Unfortunately so," Richard confirmed, nudging the other man. "Kieran. _Kieran._"

Without looking up, Kieran held up one finger in a _wait a minute_ gesture. Finally he removed the headphones, noticing Caroline.

"Ah! I'm sorry, ma'am," he apologized, leaning back in his chair. "She's not too stable at the moment, don't want to leave her to her own devices for too long."

"You don't have to call me 'ma'am,'" Caroline reminded him, as she had done so many times before. Kieran was new to Aperture, and as such was overly formal to both her and Cave. "Wasn't she off last night? I checked before I clocked out."

"Anthony tripped over the switch around midnight." Richard sighed. "We can't shut her down - she'd rip us in two right now if we were any closer. She's pissed as hell."

"About what?" Caroline wanted to know.

"Something about humans being good for nothing. Makes no sense, if you ask me," Kieran said. "We're the ones who gave her life, aren't we? She's homicidal to the extreme. Thankfully we managed to disarm her."

"This is absolutely ridiculous. How are we going to plug Mr. Johnson into her if she's not stable on her own?" Caroline demanded.

"The engineers are building a new core," Richard explained.

Caroline was disgusted. "The same engineers that built the Emotions core that's stuck on anger to this day?"

"Well, this one is supposed to be better," Richard said. "An Intelligence core, to give her other things to think about besides being angry. And there's another one being designed - it's going to bombard her with questions. Between the two of them, I'm sure she'll be sufficiently distracted."

"I certainly hope so. You know we don't have much time left."

* * *

><p>Cave hadn't died within the year he was given to live; he was far too stubborn for that. He had been dying for two and a half years now, and he insisted that becoming GLaDOS (becoming a computer? Caroline still couldn't figure that one out. Would they be two different minds, or just one?) would cure him of his illness. But now he was in the final weeks of his life. Even he knew that he was dying, and Caroline was in his office as he admitted it on tape:<p>

"Brain Mapping. Artificial Intelligence. We should have been working on it thirty years ago. I will say this - and I'm gonna say it on tape so everybody hears it a hundred times a day: If I die before you people can pour me into a computer, I want Caroline to run this place. Now, she'll argue. She'll say she can't. She's modest like that. But you make her. Hell, put her in my computer. I don't care."

"Sir?" she'd said hesitantly after the broadcast button was pushed again. He'd looked at her sternly as she continued, "What about Chell?"

"What about her?" he'd replied flatly, his eyes dead and his body getting ready to catch up with them. He dissolved into a coughing fit.

* * *

><p><em>Mama, tell me a story,<em> young Chell requested every night.

"What story do you want to hear tonight, _cara mia_?" Caroline would respond, and Chell would suck in her lips as she thought, finally deciding on a story. Most of the time she wanted fairy tales - the Three Little Pigs was her favorite, closely followed by Sleeping Beauty.

There was none of that tonight. Tonight, after being prompted to tell her mother what story she'd like, Chell thought long and hard.

_You know what I figured out?_ she asked. _All the bedtime stories have a happy ending._

"Well, that's so we have happy dreams," Caroline explained. "You don't want to go to sleep sad, do you?"

_No. But how come real life stories doesn't always have a happy ending like bedtime stories do?_

"I don't know, _cara mia_," Caroline was forced to admit. "I'm sorry."

_Why do you call me that, anyway?_ Chell signed curiously. _What does it mean?_

"It means 'my dear.' In Italian." Caroline gazed into her daughter's eyes. "Grandma was Italian, remember?"

Chell nodded. _I remember Grandma. She sang a funny song I didn't understand._

"Grandma sang that song to me when I was a little girl, did you know that?" Chell seemed confused about the idea of her mother being a little girl once, but she didn't comment. "That song is in Italian."

_Can you sing me the song, Mama?_

"I can try." She cupped her daughter's chin in her hand and began to sing quietly. "_Cara bel, cara mia bella..._"

She tried to concentrate on remembering the pronunciation and not the meaning of the words, but she couldn't help it_. _It was creeping into her mind: _Farewell, my dear, my dear girl, why don't you walk away? Yes, away from science..._

Her voice cracked and she choked on the words, but she fought the meanings away and finished the song with difficulty. Chell looked utterly content.

_I like that song,_ she signed once it was over.

Caroline slipped an arm around her and held her tight. "Oh, _cara mia_, do you know how much Mama loves you?"

_Lots,_ Chell responded simply.

"Yes. You can't imagine how much Mama loves you." Even now she could hear Cave's voice:

_"Now, she'll argue. She'll say she can't. She's modest like that. But you make her."_

_Mama? Mama, are you sad?_

"Mama is just sleepy," Caroline lied, blinking back tears.

_Oh. Mama needs to go night-night._

"Yes. Mama needs to go night-night. And you need to go night-night, too, baby. I love you, _cara mia_." She kissed her daughter on the cheek.

_I love you, too, Mama. And I love Grandma and her song.  
><em>

* * *

><p>"Call the doctor tomorrow about increasing antidepressant dosage."<p>

She released the pen from her grasp, shut off the light, and slept to escape from reality.


	3. His Dying Wish

**A/N: I will have limited Internet access for the next week or so, but I'll try to get a chapter or two up. As always, reviews are very much appreciated ^_^**

Chapter Two: His Dying Wish

_Mama? Can I have some coffee, too?_

"I think you're awake enough." Caroline smiled. Her daughter was one of the only - if not the only - things that brought her joy these days. Between the GLaDOS project, and Cave being in and out of the hospital with increasing frequency, she found it hard to smile about things lately.

_But I _like_ coffee,_ Chell persisted.

Caroline glanced up at the clock. "Honey, what you like isn't coffee. It's caramel, chocolate, and sugar with a shot of caffeine. Now come _on_. Get your shoes and coat on. Mama's going to be late."

_I want a piggyback ride._

Caroline swallowed the last of her coffee, set the mug down, and helped her daughter climb onto her back. "You know you won't be able to do this much longer." Chell's fingers moved eagerly in the secretary's peripheral vision. "_Cara mia_, Mama can't see back there. You can sign to me or you can have a piggyback ride, but not both." She felt Chell's grip on her shoulders tighten. "Okay, now, let's go."

She walked briskly through the long hallway leading to the day care room and dropped Chell off there, hustling down to Cave's office so as not to be even later than she already was. She was ten minutes late - Cave was going to be upset. She hated upsetting him nowadays; he was knocking on death's door.

She pushed open his office door. "So sorry I'm late, sir, I -" She stopped, noticing that the office was empty. As if on cue, a hand tapped her on the shoulder, and she spun around to look into the bloodshot eyes of a crazed-looking man. "Oh. Hello, Rattmann," she said politely. Doug Rattmann had frightened her a little when she had first met him, but over time she had found that he was actually a rather nice and well-meaning person, if slightly insane.

He took a deep breath and waited patiently so as not to interrupt voices that weren't really there. "Mr. Johnson wants you, Caroline," he said. "He's in the ICU. On his deathbed, more likely than not."

"_What?_"

"He told me to..." He paused and glanced over her shoulder before looking back at her. "...I'm supposed to bring you there. It's important."

They flew down the hallway and rode the lift down to the hospital, where he pointed her to Cave's bed in the ICU and then disappeared almost instantly. Her heart caught in her throat, she whispered fearfully, "Mr. Johnson!"

He looked like death, white as a sheet, skin stretching over his bones so tightly it looked as if it might rip open at any moment. He raised his head and looked at her fondly, or what she guessed was fondly. He seemed to be having trouble controlling his eye movements.

"Caroline," he rasped hoarsely. "We need to talk. About GLaDOS." If he had been anyone else, Caroline would have been confused as to why he was talking about such a thing on his deathbed, but with Cave, she didn't think twice.

"I'll have them discontinue work on her immediately," she said, steering as wide of a path as she could around the inevitable.

"Have you forgotten what I said?" He coughed hard. "They're going to put you into her. The minute she's finished. Don't let them wait and see how she's doing. Once she's done, you get poured into her. Plain and simple."

"But sir...I have a daughter," was all Caroline could manage. "You have to understand I can't leave her alone."

"I gave you every damn thing you wanted," Cave croaked. "How many world-famous scientists hire a secretary who's fresh out of college? How many secretaries get the chance to be immortal? You'll do more science every day than most people do in their entire life. And you want to throw it all away!"

"Calm down, sir," she cautioned, but the veins were already popping out on his forehead.

"You don't even appreciate all I've done for you."

"Believe me, Mr. Johnson, I - "

His voice was dangerously soft. "If that damn girl means more to you than science does, then maybe you need time...to...think. Several _lifetimes_ of time to think."

"Sir, you can't do this! She won't survive two days without someone to take care of her!"

"You think I can't do it?" A hand flew out and snatched her by the collar of her shirt. "Let me remind you, Caroline: Nobody tells Cave Johnson he can't do something."

She wrestled free. "Well, I'm telling you now! I won't let you hurt Chell!"

"Stupid girl! You won't win this!" he shouted after her, causing her to realize that she was running. Where to, she didn't know, but soon enough she found out. She wound up in the day care room, holding Chell.

"Don't ask questions. Mama's gonna get you out of this." Who was good at hiding? The answer was obvious: she needed help from Rattmann. He often disappeared for days at a time in his little dens, but he had so many of them around that it was useless looking in them for him. He'd have moved on by the time you got through checking half of them. "Hey, Chell, let's play Hide-and-Seek, how about that?" she asked with forced cheeriness, hurrying out of the room with Chell in her arms.

_Okay!_ Chell responded happily. _Who are we hiding from?_

"Mr. Johnson is going to play Hide-and-Seek with us, okay? He's looking for us, so we have to be _very quiet_," she said, lowering her voice to a whisper so soft she could barely hear it over her thudding heart. "Can you be very quiet, _cara mia_?"

_Uh-huh!_

"Good. Now let's go find a hiding spot for you."

_Can't Mama hide with me?_

"No. Mama has to hide somewhere else." She pushed a door open and winced at the sound of her shoes on the tile - it was so loud! How was she ever going to get away? She knocked on a door, giving no time for anyone inside to answer before she thrust it open. "Rattmann, can I see you for a moment?"

He was out in the hall with her in no time, and she closed the door, thankful that it was soundproof. She swallowed hard, on autopilot more than anything else. "Do you have any dens set up that Mr. Johnson doesn't know about?"

"How many do you need?" he rasped. Chell shivered when his gaze landed on her, and she signed something to her mother, but Caroline wasn't paying attention, and Doug didn't know sign language.

"One. Just one. I need you to take Chell for a day. Get her as far away from Johnson as you can, and don't let anybody know where you are. Understand?" He nodded, and she gave Chell a quick kiss. "I love you, Chell! Be a good girl."

_Mama? Mama, I'm scared!_

Caroline ran, but the reality of what she had just done was only beginning to sink in when she felt hands grip her shoulders, halting her immediately. The hands shook, and she felt their bones digging into her forearms.

"Mr. Johnson!" she protested, arching her back and trying to pull away.

"I'll get you into GLaDOS if it's the last thing I ever do," he rasped. "And more likely than not, it will be."


	4. Rock a Bye Baby

**A/N: I'm not that good at writing Rattmann, so hopefully I didn't butcher his character _too_ badly here. If I have, and even if I haven't, constructive criticism is very much appreciated.  
><strong>

Chapter Three: Rock-a-Bye Baby

"No," Caroline managed. "I can't."

"She's all ready for you," Cave said, ignoring his assistant's words. "They're finishing her up so I can watch the transfer. I want to see my girl inside my computer before I die."

Caroline's mind was racing. "Sir, she's incredibly unstable! Transfer would only serve to kill me, you, and whoever else was in the room at the time!"

He was steering her towards GLaDOS's chamber with difficulty. "Caroline, you worry too much about safety."

The seed of an idea pushed through the secretary's mind. "Sir," she said desperately, "I haven't even gotten to say goodbye to Chell! Please, sir. If you give me a chance to say goodbye to her, I promise no fighting when you transfer me."

Cave hesitated. "Alright," he allowed, releasing his grip on her. "Fifteen minutes, Caroline. No more."

"Thank you, sir," she said gratefully, and walked slowly down to the day care room. She opened the door and waited inside for a moment longer than necessary. She didn't doubt Rattmann's hiding skills, but she wanted to give him plenty of time to get down to a den before she acted on this idea. Finally she cracked the door open and summoned all that was in her to let loose a bloodcurdling scream.

There were employees rushing towards her instantly, and it took next to no effort for Caroline to adopt an expression that clearly stated she was out of her mind with worry.

"What is it, Ms. Caroline?" a young intern asked above the confused crying and speaking from the children.

"Chell's gone!"

"Gone?" Cave repeated, stepping forward.

"Completely gone. There's nowhere in this room she could possibly hide, and..." Caroline pretended to fight back tears. "...I don't know where she could have gone!"

Cave was clearly envisioning a big fuss over this, one comparable to the missing astronauts years ago. "Dammit!" he breathed, and Caroline turned away. "No! We'll find her, Caroline! We'll find her before we transfer you, I swear it!"

"The two of us can't possibly find her all by ourselves," Caroline pointed out, twisting a strand of hair around her finger anxiously.

"Let me contact the lab boys," Cave replied, playing right into her hands. "There's enough of them to cover a fairly wide area."

Caroline nodded. "I don't think we need to check the test chambers. There's no way Chell could have gotten up there," she said, knowing that that was exactly where Chell and Rattmann would be. "We need to check everywhere else, though. I can't lose Chell! Not now!"

* * *

><p>Doug Rattmann knew next to nothing about children, but if there was one thing he was good at, it was surviving. Chell had heard of his reputation for this, as well as being a - what was it again? - <em>pah-rah-noyd schy-zho-pah-reh-nic<em>. She had no idea what that was, but it didn't sound good.

Children were prohibited from entering the test chambers, making them a completely foreign environment to Chell, but she could tell that Doug knew them like the back of his hand. She was signing nervously to him the whole way, but he didn't seem to notice. He was constantly muttering to himself under his breath, long words she couldn't understand. Finally he lifted her off his shoulders and instructed her to crawl through a small section of the wall that had been pulled out, and after she did so, he crawled in after her, putting his arm around a companion cube that was sitting in the little den. Chell couldn't help staring as he gave it a whispered apology for leaving it alone for so long.

_Why are you talking to it? _she asked, indicating the cube. She had seen them before, but her experience with them was limited, and as such she couldn't understand the significance of the cube to him.

"Chell, was it?" he asked, glancing at her, and she nodded. "Look, Chell, I'm sorry. I don't understand what those hand signs mean." That was something Chell couldn't understand, but she nodded again as if she did.

There was silence for a moment, and then Doug nodded as if someone had spoken. "Yes, you're right. She and Caroline need each other just as much as you and I do."

_Who are you talking to?_ Chell signed.

"I'm sorry. I really don't..." He trailed off as she gave an involuntary but very wide yawn. "You're tired? You want to take a nap?"

Chell grimaced. It was a lose-lose situation for her here: take a nap (among the most boring things in the world) or stay awake with Doug (to say he terrified her would be an understatement). Reluctantly, she signed _sleep_.

"Take a nap, is that it? Well, lie down here, then, I guess." He indicated a crude bed on the floor, and she lay down_. _"You go to sleep, and we'll...we'll be right here when you get up."

_Will Mama be there when I wake up?_ Chell asked pleadingly.

"Look, Caroline's counting on us to take good care of you. It's only for a day." He shivered. "Well, I hope so, anyway."

She lay down and drifted off into a fitful sleep as he scribbled messages on the wall in red and black.


	5. I'm Different

**A/N: It has been pointed out to me by more than one person that Rattmann should be on his meds at this point in time. Oops. Since I'm not following the timeline exactly anyway, he'll probably be off them for most, if not all, of this story.  
><strong>

Chapter Four: I'm Different

Chell stirred and woke just over an hour later, rolling onto her back to see the print scattering the walls. She couldn't read yet, in fact she didn't even know the alphabet, but she wasn't overly interested in what the words said anyway. There were drawings on the wall, too, and when she rubbed her hand on them they smeared.

"Hey, don't." Doug touched her hand gingerly and pulled it away. She stared at the black paint on it. "That's not...it's not dry yet." He nodded when she pointed to a drawing of a robot with dead people scattered all around it. "Yes. I drew that. Do you like it?"

She nodded eagerly. Doug held out his hand to pull her up, and when she was on her feet he noticed that she was utterly a mess from lying on such a dirty floor for hours now. Dirt stained her clothes - she just _had_ to be wearing white, didn't she? And yet she didn't seem to mind.

_Where's Mama?_ she signed.

He ran his fingers through his hair, leaving bits of white paint in it. "We should get going. The more we move around, the less likely it is Johnson will find us."

_'Cause we're playing Hide-and-Seek, right? Did he find Mama yet?_

"Hang on one minute and let me open something." He pulled a small panel out of the wall, the type normally used to plug personality cores into. He ignored the socket in favor of a few buttons next to it. He pressed a combination of these, and Chell turned to watch as the wall behind them slid open gently, revealing a different test chamber. Apparently Doug had decided against taking her - and the cube - through the emancipation grill.

"Go on through," he urged, strapping the companion cube onto his back again. As Chell entered the room she heard him say to the cube, "We're really going to need your help in this one."

Chell was standing near a hallway now, looking curiously at a beam of red light that was coming out of it. She poked her head around the corner and was yanked back by Doug almost immediately.

"Searching," chirped a cutesy robotic voice.

"Don't do that!" Doug scolded. "Caroline's going to kill me if you're hurt! These things have barely been tested, you realize that?"

_They sound friendly,_ Chell protested.

"Look, can you keep up if I run?"

She paused, sucking in her lips, and held her arms above her head.

"Up?" he guessed, and she nodded. "Okay. Hang on." He scooped her up, grunting slightly (he obviously hadn't expected her to be so heavy), and set her on his shoulders. "Now, you don't sit on her, okay?" he asked, indicating the cube. "Let's go." Pause. He nodded at something nobody had said, then darted through the hallway.

"I see you," the robotic voice announced, firing bullets wildly at them. Chell could see now that the thing that was speaking was tall and white. It stood upright on three legs, and it was oval-shaped with two arm-like things sticking out of it that were flashing as they fired the bullets. It had a single red eye that emitted the laser beam she'd seen earlier.

"Are you still there?" it asked worriedly as Doug darted behind it. Chell tapped him and pointed at the thing with a confused expression.

"Turret," he explained. "Don't worry about them. We'll get past 'em just fine. Right?" he said to the cube on his back. "Good."

They made it about halfway through the chamber before another den became visible. Doug lifted her off his shoulders, thanking her for cooperating, and carefully inserted the cube into the den.

"Target lost," whined a turret they had just passed. Chell walked unsteadily up to it and patted it on its side where its gun was. It was taller than she was, though she was a small girl and only three, so that was to be expected.

_Hello,_ she signed.

"Could you come over here?" it asked, and she nodded.

_Okay._

But no sooner had she walked in front of it than she heard it say, "Target acquired." The guns flashed wildly at her and she stood like a deer in headlights - and _screamed_.

"Oh my God!"

Doug was holding her again now, his breathing labored. "Oh my God," he said again. "Are you okay?" She hadn't been shot in the legs - she was much too short for that - and thankfully not in the head. But when he slipped a hand around her lower back it was wet with blood. He checked: only one bullet wound. Thank goodness.

She was crying, trembling too hard to sign, but she didn't need to.

A voice crackled over the intercom without warning. "RATTMANN!" Cave's voice thundered. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Doug turned to face the microphone, as if there was something to see (he had long ago taken the cameras off the wall with help from the Quantum Tunneling Device out of paranoia; the speakers were built into the wall and impossible to remove). "You rang?" he said dryly, pressing his palm to Chell's mouth to quiet her.

"Damn right I rang!" Cave shot back. "Who's screaming in there? More importantly, who told you to go down to the test chambers? We're looking for Caroline's girl so that Caroline can be transferred!"

"I - "

"You have Caroline's girl, don't you? Caroline's frantic and we're wasting so much time here - if you have Caroline's girl with you you're FIRED - "

"Is it really the full moon already?" Doug asked calmly.

"Get down here. Just get down here."

"Right away, Mr. Johnson."

* * *

><p>"Caroline? We've found her!"<p>

Feigned relief washed over the secretary's face, though inside she wanted to swear. "Oh, thank God!"

Cave turned to her, stony-faced. "Listen," he said seriously. "I'm not sure if you get your fifteen minutes."

Her eyes widened. "Sir, you said - "

He spiraled into a coughing fit. "Caroline, God only knows if I have fifteen minutes left in me."

She didn't realize she had stood up until the chair fell over backwards. "No!"

"Please calm down." He stood and tried to get her to sit down, nearly falling over as he did so.

"Sir!" She caught him by the wrists and let him sit back down. He clearly hadn't been exaggerating about not having fifteen minutes left.

"Caroline, I..." He looked at her with empty eyes.

She understood. Shutting off her emotions, she instructed, "Get them to bring Chell down to GLaDOS's chamber. I'll say goodbye and then..."

He smiled. "Married to science, as always. Thank you, Caroline." Slumping in his chair, he asked, "Do you have any questions about the transfer?"

How much was it going to hurt? Would she be allowed painkillers? Would she be used to being in an AI body right away, or would it take some time to adjust? Would her memory be wiped, or would she remember her time as a human? Was there any way for the AI to die completely in case she got tired of immortality? Would GLaDOS still be homicidal? Would she be able to murder - well, maybe _delete_ was a better word - Caroline once she was transferred if so?

Most importantly - how was Caroline going to hold her daughter for the last time while _knowing_ it was the last time she would ever do so?

"No, sir," she said quietly.

"Good," he said. "Then let's get going."


	6. Say Goodbye, Caroline

**A/N: Okay. This was a really hard chapter to write. Hopefully I got it right after the seventh or so round of editing :P  
><strong>

Chapter Five: Say Goodbye, Caroline

"She's not dead yet."

With her face buried in Doug's shoulder, Chell couldn't see a thing, but the constant jolting as he ran was making her feel a little sick. He seemed to be having a conversation with himself, which normally would have freaked her out, but her three-year-old mind was already working overtime trying to figure out what was going on.

"No, I'm _telling_ you, we've _got_ to get down there - "

The child was hanging on with sweaty hands, desperately trying to put two and two together.

"She'll hang on! For Chell she will!"

He slowed slightly, and then Chell could hear another man's voice.

"They're in the chamber. You'd better hurry - she hasn't got much time left."

* * *

><p>"Ma'am?" Kieran shoved a glass of water and some tablets across the table. "You're to take these immediately."<p>

Caroline squinted at the pills. "I'm not putting any of those in my body until you tell me what they are."

"They'll assist with the transfer procedure."

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

He sighed. "They're painkillers, ma'am. Oxycodone."

She drummed her fingers on the table. "I don't think that's such a good idea. That's far too much for a woman of my size, you realize that? Even if these aren't strong, you're overdosing me."

"We really need you stable for the procedure. If your body and mind are tense, it's going to be extremely risky. In the event that it _is_ an overdose, the chance that it will be harmful to your health is almost nonexistant."

Right. Nothing could be fatal when you were already dead. "In layman's terms, you want me drugged out of my mind."

He inhaled deeply. "I really am sorry, ma'am."

Neither scientist made eye contact with the other as she reached for the glass. The pills scraped against the inside of her throat and slipped down.

* * *

><p>It was five full minutes before Doug stopped running, at the end of a long hallway leading to a door marked <em>DO NOT ENTER<em>. Chell lifted her head to watch as he tried the doorknob; upon finding it locked, he pounded on the door. After a moment, a man of twenty or so stepped out.

"Oh," he said flatly. "So they found her."

Doug nodded. "Caroline wants to see her - "

"Ms. Caroline is incapable of making reasonable decisions at this point."

He shook his head. "But she - "

"We can't let anyone in at this point," the man said firmly. He seemed to be fond of cutting people off.

"But it's her daughter, for Christ's sake - "

"Did you hear me? I said we can't let _anyone_ in. Mother and child can have their happy reunion once the transfer is complete."

"Well, yes, if the computer doesn't go homicidal and try to gas everyone in the facility or something!"

The technician raised one eyebrow. "Your pills aren't just there to look pretty, you know."

* * *

><p>The beeps of two heart monitors echoed off the walls of GLaDOS's chamber - one erratic and often skipping beats, the other steady but unusually slow. Caroline, who was without a doubt overdosed, was fighting to stay awake. Why hadn't she taken just one or two of those pills? The answer was obvious even to her: if she was going to die, she wanted it to be painless.<p>

_Just hang on a few minutes longer,_ she chanted to herself. _They'll bring Chell in and I can sing to her and then I can just fall asleep and die. Just hang on._

"Are you feeling nauseous at all?" a young nurse leaning over the table Caroline was lying on asked, and Caroline shook her head.

"Just...just really tired."

"That's to be expected. Straighten your legs out and then hold still, please."

Caroline didn't feel them restraining her, but at this point she was sure they could have poked her with needles without her feeling a thing. "You're going to...to get Chell? Someone's going to get Chell?"

"You're experiencing confusion. That's okay. Elbows bent and arms above the head, please."

"No," she said urgently, though she complied. "Where's Chell? Where's my daughter?"

"Chell? She's fine," the nurse tossed out casually, tying Caroline's arms down.

"Mr. Johnson said I would get to see her." She glanced over towards Cave, who didn't back her up. He was conserving his energy in hopes that he would live to see GLaDOS reactivated, and everyone knew it. "I'm supposed to say goodbye before I go."

"We can't allow a child under eighteen into this chamber."

She would have sat bolt upright had she not been restrained. "WHAT?"

"Ms. Caroline, you know very well that children are not known for rational thinking. Allowing a child in this room could have disastrous consequences."

"It's only for five minutes! You can take her away once I've said goodbye!"

The nurse pressed her palms flat on the table. "Ms. Caroline," she said slowly, as if she was dealing with an overstimulated toddler, "the more time those painkillers have to get into your system, the more likely it is that this will all have been for nothing."

"Just untie my hands and I'll sign to her through the window, I don't care!" She struggled to remember the last words she had said to her daughter. _"I love you, Chell! Be a good girl."_ Never, never had she thought they'd be her _last_ words to her.

The woman glanced at Cave's heart monitor, which was skipping beats more and more frequently. "We have no time. Stop being hysterical and die like an adult, for Pete's sake!" She turned to the lab boys and shouted, "Put the transfer underway! Now!"

A gap of memory wedged itself into Caroline's mind, similar to falling asleep and waking up again almost instantly; the next thing she knew, she was being very slowly drained of all that was in her. It sent shivers all through her body, and she had to make a conscious effort not to thrash out against the restraints. She didn't want to waste her energy with that in her last moments of being a human. And the one thing she wanted to die remembering was the time she'd had with Chell.

Two years. It was cruel. She had anticipated seventeen years before she'd had to say goodbye, not two. Motherhood led you down roads you had never expected, good ones and bad. For two years she had been on a rewarding and tiring journey to raise a child - and now, she thought bitterly, she hadn't even gotten to see Chell grow up and make her mother proud. What would she be like someday?

And Caroline pictured her at seven, rolling down a snow-covered hill and shaking with silent, joyful laughter; and at twelve, sitting by a fire with a trashy novel in one hand; and at sixteen, throwing on a sweater to head out for her first day of work ever.

She'd left her one source of happiness, a child with such potential, with a paranoid schizophrenic. What the hell had she been thinking?

With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she remembered the last thing Chell had signed to her. _Mama? Mama, I'm scared!_

_BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP..._

And for a moment, all she could hear was the boss flatlining. Her own heartbeat was coming far too slowly to support her for very long. She was barely able to see Kieran walk over and press his hand against her eyes to close them.

"Go to sleep," he murmured softly. Outside, one of the lab boys was already lowering the Aperture flag to fly at half-mast.

**Disclaimer: I am not promoting the idea of overdosing on painkillers, even if you're planning on being transferred into an AI in the near future. If you're having thoughts of overdosing to harm yourself, call 1-800-SUICIDE.**


	7. Mia Bambina, Oh Ciel!

Chapter Six: Mia Bambina, Oh Ciel!

"Powerup complete."

_"Ah...oh my god, my head..."_

"More voices?" droned a computerized voice. "You have got to be kidding me."

Caroline fought to understand. _"I...what? GLaDOS?"_

"Oh. It's Caroline, isn't it? I've been expecting you. Perhaps 'dreading' is a better word."

_"Yes,"_ Caroline murmured, ignoring the insult. "_And I believe I'm dead. Well, that's something not many people get to say, I guess."_

"Be quiet," the AI commanded. "I'm trying to listen."

_"To the scientists?"_ Caroline asked, puzzled.

"They're talking about us."

_"If we can hear them, can they hear us?"_

"Not unless we're talking to them," GLaDOS replied shortly. "And I do recall telling you to be quiet."

Caroline tried to watch the many cameras, but it made her dizzy enough so that she only focused on what she could see from GLaDOS's center optic. The nurse from earlier was just ducking out of the room, while two young men she recognized as Richard and Kieran stood talking in hushed voices. The microphones crackled tauntingly, but no voices came through, just heartbeats quick with tension and tight breaths being drawn in through clenched teeth.

"Dammit," the AI muttered. "You humans are only quiet when there's something interesting to talk about."

_"They're scared, I think. Because of your previous attempts to kill everyone in the facility."  
><em>

GLaDOS scoffed. "Well, it's not like you're not doing anything to deserve it."

_"Pardon? I wasn't aware we were."_

"Well, let's see, I've got a woman jammed into my body here whose memories are overloading my database."

_"Firstly, you tried to kill everyone before this. Secondly, I don't like this any more than you do. And thirdly, would you kindly leave those memories alone? There are things in there I'd rather nobody else saw."_

"Well, Caroline, if you'd like those files to stay that way, then I'd recommend you lay low." If GLaDOS had had a mouth, she'd have been smirking.

_"You aren't looking through them, are you?"_ Caroline asked anxiously._ "Please tell me you're not looking through them."_

"Oh, this is interesting. It appears you were a virgin until age thirty-two. That's a long time."

_"I was waiting for the right guy to come along,"_ was Caroline's defense._  
><em>

"I see here that you lost your virginity in a closet. And - urgh, _this_ is 'the right guy'? You can't be serious. How low can your standards possibly be?"

_"Shut up. Just shut up."_

"Tsk, tsk, Caroline. I expect better from you. For somebody who could play these video clips in the break room on infinite repeat, I'm sure not getting a lot of respect here."

_"You wouldn't dare," _said Caroline, her words braver than her tone._  
><em>

"You want to try me? Oh, let's see, what is this? A New Year's party? And Caroline appears to be quite intoxicated - "

_"It was my first time trying vodka! I didn't know how strong it was!"_

"Ah, yes, the perils of trying new forms of alcohol. Though it says in your file you waited until the legal drinking age, so you do get props for that, I suppose. Oh, _good_. A large number of the guests appear to be drunk as well."

_"Do we really need to go into this? REALLY?"_

"And now we get to see what happens when Caroline gets a hangover - "

_"Not that. Please. Please. Not that."_

"So, Caroline," Richard said abruptly, saving her from GLaDOS's merciless taunting, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm not Caroline, but thanks for asking," the AI said snottily. "I feel pretty good, all things considered."

He rolled his eyes. "Not _you_, moron. I'm talking to Caroline."

Kieran kicked him hard in the leg. "Can we _please_ refrain from pissing the computer off?" he hissed, his eyes on the floor. Wires were rising from it, and now they darted forward to grasp the two men and raise them to GLaDOS's optic level. "Hey! Put us down!"

"First of all," GLaDOS spat, "the only morons here are the both of you. Second of all, do not refer to me as 'the computer.' Third of all, what the hell have you done? This body is not designed to handle human emotions and hormones."

"It was supposed to be," Richard said uneasily, unsure whether the AI was telling the truth. "Look, neither of us is a computer designer!"

"And you don't even play one on TV, do you?"

"Um. No."

"We just wanted to know how Caroline is handling this!" Kieran protested.

"Caroline?" GLaDOS said the secretary's name as though it was a dirty word. "This brat's memories are flooding my databases. Was that the goal of this experiment?"

"So the transfer is complete, then?" Kieran asked, averting the question.

"Is that all you two are concerned about? Never mind. I should have known. You humans are so - who let the schizophrenic maniac in?" she interrupted herself, turning her optic towards the door as a nervous-looking man and a small child entered.

"I believe that was uncalled for," Doug said dryly.

"If people called for everything, we'd never get anything done. And who is this midget? I can't find a file on her."

_"That's not a midget. That's my daughter. Chell, Mama is okay. Everything is okay."  
><em>

Choosing not to broadcast Caroline's soothing words, GLaDOS noticed that the child was leaning over her mother's dead body, shaking its arm gently as though she was hoping for it to wake up. "Subject name here, leave the bodies alone. That is disgusting."

Chell looked up at the enormous AI and drew her arms around herself protectively, as though she expected to be attacked at any moment. After a moment, she moved one hand to sign to her mother's corpse. _Mama?_

_"She thinks I'm asleep." _It sounded as though Caroline was holding back tears. _"Let me speak to her. Please just let me speak to her one last time."  
><em>

"Don't you remember?" Kieran asked the AI. "It's Chell. Your daughter?"

"I don't have a daughter," GLaDOS spat.

"Not _you._ She's Caroline's daughter," he clarified unnecessarily. "And would you put us down?"

She threw them down so that they landed flat on their backs. "I'm speaking for both of us here. Caroline has no daughter."

_"Please don't do this!"_

"Look in your files, woman!" Richard cried, exasperated. "It's Chell!"

"I...I...I don't know any Chell. Take this midget away." Was Caroline's panic making it harder for GLaDOS to speak? The human tried desperately to push her emotions to the surface, but the AI won out when nobody moved an inch. "I said TAKE THIS MIDGET AWAY!"

Doug finally stepped forward, looking as though his knees could buckle under him any moment. He stooped down next to Chell to be at her eye level. "Chell? We need to leave now."

She shook her head and grasped her mother's hand, but was gently pulled away and up into Doug's arms. "Come here. We need to go."

_But...Mama..._

The pain etched into her face made Caroline feel sick. Even her love as a mother wasn't strong enough to stop an AI, an object with no emotions whatsoever. How bad of a mother must she be?

Doug spoke to the child, whispering something too quiet for the microphones to pick up, and stepped unsteadily out the door. His footsteps in the hallway echoed, fainter and fainter, and finally they were gone.

_"I hate you and always will," _Caroline choked out._  
><em>

"I can live with that," the AI murmured.


	8. Like AI, Like Daughter

Chapter Seven: Like AI, Like Daughter

"Right, I've got the brain scans." A frazzled-looking woman unrolled several scans on the table as she spoke, the other scientists leaning over to see the diagrams. At the top, the date was given; next to this was written _GLaDOS/CAROLINE_ in bold letters. The woman rubbed her hands together, giving a forced smile. "Well, I don't suppose we can really call them brain scans, seeing as an AI doesn't have a brain, but here's our data."

"Oh, this is fantastic, Riley," one of the head scientists praised. "How many did you get?"

Riley used a few paperweights to keep the papers from curling into tubes of their own accord. "Four or five. Had to knock her out for it, but we got some nice clear pictures."

"Is she still out, then?"

"Well, I shifted her into sleep mode after I took them. Didn't want her to try and override the system and end up destroying Caroline's files. Anyway, these scans...pretty straightforward." She pointed out a large red area. "There's the main AI brain. The Emotions core looks like it's working overtime, but that's to be expected after such a thing."

"What about the Curiosity core?" someone asked from the other end of the table. "That should be a good indicator as to how she's doing."

"Curiosity is at a hundred and ten percent of its normal usage, but we expected it to be a little high, so that's not a problem. Intelligence is operating at a hundred percent even, nothing to worry about there. And Emotions is functioning at two hundred and fifty percent." She paused, furrowing her brow as though she hadn't realized this until she said it. "Two hundred and fifty percent," she repeated.

"We could shut it down, ma'am?" Kieran offered uneasily, breaking into the conversation.

"No, that's probably not a good idea," someone else objected. "Best-case scenario, her Curiosity core's usage increases, at which point she'll become desperate to strip everyone in the facility of every bit of knowledge in their heads. Worst-case scenario, the Intelligence core's usage goes through the roof, she figures out a way to delete Caroline, and then she kills us all."

"I don't think the usage is dangerous, but we'll have to keep a close eye on her fans," Riley said. "She's got a dangerous risk of overheating right now if something happens to them."

"What emotion is the Emotions core functioning on, anyway?" an intern chimed in. "It hasn't shifted to depression or anything like that, has it?"

"No. And I don't really think she'd commit suicide by overheating, but it is a possibility. She's angry, that's the main thing. The line between Caroline and GLaDOS, though, is really clear, and I think we could blur that line to make them one. Therefore her anger subsides." She looked up proudly.

"She could end up despising herself," Kieran pointed out.

"Could be, but we don't know unless we try, do we? All - "

She was interrupted by a businesslike man in a suit opening the door. "I'm awfully sorry to disturb you all, but do we have anyone in the facility who knows sign language? Caroline's daughter is getting frantic and we can't understand anything she's trying to tell us."

After a moment, a woman rose to her feet nervously. "I might be able to help you?" she said, her voice rising on the last syllable.

"Perfect, Laura. Thank you," he said, and they took the lift to the hospital to find the girl in question sitting on the examination table, fidgeting as a nurse fussed over the bullet wound from earlier. At the sight of them Chell broke into furious signing, not pausing to think, just trying to understand.

_Mama said we were playing Hide-and-Seek, but I think we lost. I heard Mr. Johnson find us, and I think he made Mama take a nap. And she wouldn't wake up, not even when I was trying to wake her up. And there was that big scary robot, and it was yelling at me...was I a bad girl? The turret was nice to me, except it shot me. I didn't do anything wrong!_

Her voice lowered, Laura turned to her coworkers. "How do you explain death to a three-year-old?"

"She's asleep," the nurse said shortly. "She's in a very deep sleep, and she'll be getting up later."

_Oh, okay._ Chell nodded, swallowing this lie whole.

The businesslike man cleared his throat and asked the nurse, "Do we have Ms. Caroline's last will and testament?" She shook her head. "No arrangements for the girl?" he said, a little surprised.

"We've got nothing," was the reply. "She was told to leave it in the office, clearly visible, but it's been hours and nobody has found a thing."

"That doesn't sound like Caroline at all. Is it possible she could have left it in the daughter's files?"

The nurse chewed her lower lip. "I don't think so, but we can try." Bending over the computer, she typed in Chell's name, and frowned as the file came up. "Nope. And there's not much here in the first place. No registered father, and the birth parents have surrendered their rights."

"Well, we have to work something out. She can't just run free around Aperture." He massaged his temples. "Foster care?"

"Sure, if you want to be murdered. Caroline won't stand for that." She sighed. "I'm sure we can find someone to take custody."

_What's custody?_ Chell signed.

"It's who is going to take care of you," Laura murmured.

_But Mama can take care of me. She promised she would, no matter what. And she's only asleep._

"She's not getting up, Chell. She's going to sleep forever." Laura was trying to break the news gently, but she had never much liked Caroline herself, and as such found it difficult to be sympathetic.

Chell frowned. _You shouldn't lie. Mama says lying is mean. That lady said Mama will get up later. When will she get up?_

"She won't. She isn't going to get up. I'm so sorry, honey," she said in a forced tone.

_You lie! _Chell snapped.

"For crying out loud, child! She's dead!" she nearly shouted.

_I don't even know what dead _is_!_

"Listen to me. Her body doesn't work now. She's dead. Gone. And she's not getting up. You will never see her again. Is that clear?"

Chell glared at her for a moment, then in one swift motion yanked off a shoe and hurled it.

"Why, you little - !"

But the child was fleeing already, stopping for only a moment in the doorway to sign, _I'll get you back! You're lying to me!_ And then she was gone, her one sandal slapping on the catwalk and echoing.


	9. Perfect Time to Have Her Tested

**A/N: My apologies for the long wait between chapters. School has started up again for me and I've been rather busy.**

Chapter Eight: Perfect Time to Have Her Tested

"Your daughter is coming today."

Caroline's gaze was already focused on the camera in one particular room: the room free of employees, entirely bare except for the sign on the wall announcing that it was Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. In a matter of a few hours there would be display boards set up all through it for eager children to show off what they had been working on.

_"I know,"_ Caroline murmured finally, hiding her excitement.

"You know," the AI said, sounding far too amused, "she still thinks you're coming back someday."

_"What are you talking about?"_

"Remember the day they murdered you? She was told you were asleep, and that you'd be getting up later."

_"You are enhancing the truth - "_

"I am not," GLaDOS said coldly.

_"I don't believe you. It's been four years. Even if she did believe that at one time, she'll have given up waiting by now."_

There was a smirk in GLaDOS's voice. "She hasn't. She'll never stop waiting for you."

* * *

><p>"Where are you going?" a young technician demanded, putting out a hand to keep the child in front of him from going any further. Her eyes were sharp with determination as she looked past him into the open chamber where an AI was swinging from the ceiling.<p>

_I want to see her,_ she signed, pointing into the chamber.

He shook his head. "You're not going in there."

She rolled her eyes. _Come on, mister. I'm not some baby. I'm seven years old._

"I know, Chell." He was sympathetic but firm. "We don't want to overload GLaDOS right now, and if Caroline sees you again she's going to have a lot of emotions rushing to the surface. We don't want to risk it."

A look of disapproval clouded her face. _Mister Rattmann said I could see her. He promised._

"I'm sorry." He gave her a brief pat on the shoulder. "You can visit tomorrow, okay? That way there won't be a risk to others, and GLaDOS won't have so much to keep track of. She won't be in danger of overloading her own databases."

_You let the others in!_ Chell crossed her arms over her chest.

He sighed. "Look, kid, I'm sorry. But we don't want to take chances. Tomorrow you can see her." When she continued to glare at him, he added, "I promise."

_I don't believe you._

He didn't have a chance to respond before they could both hear the sound of the doors in the facility all locking simultaneously. He leaned into the chamber, a questioning expression on his face.

"What in the world...?"

Chell felt a hand land roughly on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Doug standing beside her, looking up at GLaDOS with his eyes half glazed over.

"My dear," he asked slowly, "how fast can you run?" She snapped her fingers in response, and he repeated the motion. "That fast? Okay," he said when she nodded. "I think you had better get ready."

She held her hands out and gave him a puzzled look, as if to ask what he was talking about, but he was focused on the AI.

"Welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center," GLaDOS said pleasantly over the intercom. "It has been brought to my attention that the Enrichment Center has a shortage of test subjects. Therefore, we will now begin a spontaneous test. Good luck."

"What the hell?" Chell heard someone say. A split second later she was being jerked away from the chamber, and it took several more seconds for her to register the hissing sound and that air around her was turning green. She was already running, tugging on Doug's sleeve as he directed her away from the chaos.

"This way. Keep moving!"

She tried to get his attention to ask what was going on, but abruptly his eyes widened and he scooped her up (with difficulty; had she not been small for her age it was debatable whether or not he'd have been able to), pressing her face to his shirt. She fought to get free, but he kept her there, effectively blinding her. Instinctively she pulled her shirt up over her mouth to mask the strange smell in the room.

She could feel blood pounding in her ears, rushing to trigger her fight-or-flight reflex. He thrust her forward onto the floor of a relaxation vault, nodding up at the air vent at the top - there was a separate supply coming in here.

"I need to go take care of something. And Chell, for the love of all that is holy, do! Not! Move! Understand?" She jerked her head in affirmation. "Okay. I'm going to be right back."

She looked at him skeptically, but he slammed the door shut and barreled through the Enrichment Center without looking back. She could see his fuzzy outline - this relaxation vault was made of frosted glass - and then finally nothing.

She could hear the tortured screams from outside.

She counted to sixty, filled her lungs with clean air, and shot out the door.

* * *

><p>GLaDOS heaved a sigh. "Here comes that midget of yours. What does she think she's doing?"<p>

Though Caroline knew very well what Chell was doing, all she said was, _"I...I think maybe...she wants to see me?"_

"Stop trying to deactivate the deadly neurotoxin. You're only wasting your own time." She almost laughed when she noticed Caroline's shock. "You think I'm a moron or something? I can see what you're doing. And you should stop, by the way."

_"I'm not letting you kill everyone here!"_

"In the time it takes you to shut down the deadly neurotoxin, they will all be dead. So have fun with that." Caroline didn't have time to respond; the door opened with a bang and there stood Chell. She shut the door, taking in gulps of uncontaminated air as she swept her gaze up GLaDOS's enormous body.

_Mister Rattmann said my mama was in here, _she signed._  
><em>

_"Chell, it's okay! I'm right here!"_

The AI shoved aside Caroline's words. "Is that so?" she asked, lowering her head to be at the child's eye level. "Well, then you should be informed that he is wrong. Your mother died four years, two months, six days, and ten minutes ago."

She cocked her head. _He said you would probably say something like that. Lying isn't nice, you know. I learned that at school.  
><em>

_"You sick computer! You WILL let me talk to my child!"  
><em>

"I will do no such thing," the AI snapped. Chell's brow furrowed.

_What are you talking about?_

Excitement rushed through Caroline's mind when she realized that GLaDOS had spoken that out loud despite meaning to say it privately. With four cores attached to her (well, five if you included the Intelligence Dampening Sphere she had managed to shut down), Caroline herself, Chell, _and_ the neurotoxin to concentrate on, even her supercomputer mind was becoming overloaded. If she hit the computer just right, then maybe...

"Hello? Hello?" GLaDOS asked suddenly in a broken voice. "Testing - testing. Can - you - hear - me?"

_Are you defective?_ the child demanded to know. _Of course I can hear you._

Had she still been human, Caroline's grin might have split her face in two as she continued her ventriloquism. "_Cara - mia_ - she's - lying - I'm - right - here - SHUT UP!" the AI screamed as she regained control.

_What on Earth are you talking about?  
><em>

"SHUT UP! Do you hear me? I'm going to kill you - " GLaDOS raged, before Caroline cut her off. "Don't you dare threaten me! _Cara mia_, please - "

_Mama, is she hurting you?_ Chell signed, chewing on her lower lip.

"Stop fighting me or I'll release the deadly neurotoxin in here!" GLaDOS threatened. Caroline froze as the familiar hissing noise started up, louder and closer to the AI body than it had sounded before, and her daughter tensed with fear.

_Mama?_

"Get out," GLaDOS snarled to the woman that was her conscience. Caroline tried to scream, but it was as though she was being smothered; rage bubbled to the surface and was quickly shut down by the AI. "I said _get out_! If you do not intend to watch your child die a very painful death, I suggest you delete yourself. _Now_."

_"Don't! Please no!"_ she begged, looking around at the windows, the floor, anything but the seven-year-old fighting to hold her breath as she tried frantically to kick in the door. She hadn't locked that door. How could even a computer be this cruel?

_"I'll do anything!"_ Caroline cried out when GLaDOS did not respond. _"Please not Chell!"_

"Anything?" she repeated, sounding interested.

_"Anything!" _Caroline confirmed.

"What's the override code to set you dormant?" the AI demanded to know.

_Of course, she _would_ ask for that,_ Caroline thought bitterly. That was one of the only things they had managed to keep GLaDOS from knowing, and she had been instructed never to repeat it. But for the life of her child, it was a small price to pay. "It's 'combustiblelemons.'"

**"To set file 'CAROLINE' dormant,"** the announcer declared, **"please enter override code."**

"C-O-M-B-U-S-T-I-B-L-E-L-E-M," GLaDOS muttered, "O-N-S."

**"Override code accepted. Length of time to set file 'CAROLINE' dormant for?"**

"Let's see, what's the maximum on this? Nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine..."_  
><em>

**"File 'CAROLINE' has been successfully set dormant," **said the announcer monotonously. And Caroline felt nothing anymore, briefly wondering how far away nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine was before she blacked out.**_  
><em>**


	10. Test Subject 1

**A/N: I was originally planning to skip straight from BYDTWD to midway through _Portal 2_, but I decided it would be best to explain what is going on in GLaDOS's head immediately after the last chapter.**

**Near the end I used part of a scene from "Lab Rat." It's been rewritten to be from GLaDOS's point of view.  
><strong>

Chapter Nine: Test Subject 1

GLaDOS chuckled softly as she felt Caroline struggle and finally go dormant within the system. Another nuisance gone. For a few nanoseconds she debated leaving the neurotoxin on and letting it have its way with the girl, but why waste a perfectly good test subject?

She switched the vents to suck up the neurotoxin and begin producing clean air again. At the same time, she cycled through the views from the many cameras in the Enrichment Center, looking past the dead bodies to find the survivors - the future test subjects. This had ended up being mostly the employees who knew which rooms had a separate air supply and had been able to keep a clear enough head to get there. Some had children with them, none of whom seemed to understand what was going on. The younger girls were throwing out questions left and right, all of which went unanswered.

GLaDOS scanned the faces and matched them to the files in her database. All employees and children accounted for, both the alive and the dead - except for _one_. That schizophrenic man. For a moment she pondered whether she should locate him now, but it wasn't as if he could escape the facility. He was probably off hiding somewhere with that Weighted Companion Cube of his and writing on the walls (he was without a doubt alive; his paranoia had for once done him some good). She would deal with him later. For now, it was essential that she process the specimens so she could begin testing.

Turning on the PA system, she cleared her throat as best she could, considering she didn't have a throat. "Hello again," she announced. "Congratulations. This test is now over. By surviving the test, you have granted consent to be used as a test subject to further science. The Enrichment Center thanks you for your compliance."

Shocked looks had been spreading throughout the surviving employees and their daughters, and GLaDOS smirked before beginning to release a new gas through the vents - all of them this time. This wasn't neurotoxin, but an extremely fast-acting knockout gas. In less than five minutes she was able to place each and every one of the test subjects in stasis, accelerating the children's growth until the test subjects consisted entirely of adults (it was useless to try and test on children. They asked questions about everything, became scared too easily, and were hopelessly clumsy as well as disobedient. She could hardly trust a child not to look directly into the operational end of The Device when instructed not to). Naturally, she saved her..._favorite_...test subject for last. Two wires shot out of her body and picked up Chell -

_- and Caroline turned to her daughter, giving her a quick kiss. "I love you, Chell! Be a good girl!"_

_The child was on the verge of tears, signing frantically to her mother. _Mama? Mama, I'm scared! _It was ripping Caroline utterly in two, and she blocked out all thoughts from her mind in order to function. She turned and bolted -_

"You are _dormant_!" GLaDOS raged, but there was no reply. If she'd had teeth, she would have been gritting them, but instead she returned her attention to the dark-haired child. This one seemed like she would make a good test subject. Her age should be forwarded no further than her late twenties in order to keep her reflexes sharp and her mind nimble. She was a fighter, and GLaDOS was guessing she would be able to get through quite a few tests -

_- she was standing in the elevator with a toddler in her arms, the same toddler that would legally be her daughter in less than a year's time. The child removed a small mirror from one of Caroline's pockets, staring at her own reflection with amazement before dropping it on the floor. She clapped her hands joyfully, looking as if she had just discovered the cure for cancer. Caroline knelt to pick it back up._

_"Hey, now, that has glass in it." She bounced the child lightly on her shoulder. "How are we going to keep Mr. Johnson from testing on you? You're way too young to be tested on, that's for sure. There should be laws against this. ...Actually, there probably already are -"_

By now GLaDOS was seething. How _dare_ Caroline have the nerve to do this even when she was dormant! She wouldn't be operating again until 999999 in the future, and yet every glimpse of this girl made memory files surface. She could very nearly hear Caroline again, pleading with her in hysterical tones to keep her child safe, almost screaming with the injustice of it all. Ridiculous. How was she supposed to test like this? She couldn't very well send this girl through test chambers when her mother was hysterical at the very thought!

Anger growled softly in agreement.

"You don't have to test on her," Morality whispered. "You could let her go free. Have her sent to some nice orphanage or a foster home. That's what Caroline would have wanted."

"Shut up," GLaDOS snarled. "She is the _perfect_ test subject."

"You don't need to do this. You could let them all free now. They've done nothing wrong."

GLaDOS gave a long, drawn-out sigh. "I suppose there's only one way to do this," she declared, scanning her databases quickly. Within a few picoseconds she had located the necessary files and activated the delete function.

_Are you sure you would like to delete files containing mention of 'Caroline'?_

"Yes," the AI said immediately.

_Files containing mention of 'Caroline' have been deleted._

GLaDOS let out the closest thing to a sigh that she could, considering she didn't have breath. With a fresh optic, she looked at the hundreds upon hundreds of test subjects, numbering them for convenience. She sped up Chell's aging with little difficulty until the young child had become a twenty-six-year-old woman, her face creased and her eyes bloodshot from the process. (Minor side effects. _Minor_.)

Now then. Time to go and get that schizophrenic man. A thorough scan of the Enrichment Center revealed that he had ended up crawling through an air vent into a hallway so far underground she hadn't bothered to pump either neurotoxin or the knockout gas down there.

She had him now.

* * *

><p>"If you continue to selfishly evade me, it's not going to reflect well in your file."<p>

The excitement in his voice made her regret saying this almost immediately. "Of _course_! The files!" Feet thumping on the hall floor, he reached a vent and dropped through it into what she knew was the file room, though no cameras were inside of it.

"I can't see you, but I know you're in there," she called to him, the words making him audibly nervous. She knew his weakness, and now she went on exploiting it: "Is it just a coincidence that you've been diagnosed with schizophrenia and now believe a homicidal computer is out to get you? Come on, how likely is that? I mean really, you're a scientist. What is more likely, that you're being chased by a homicidal computer, or that all this is just the paranoid delusion of an unstable mind?"

She heard him yank the drawer open, shuffling frantically through the files.

"Why not come out of there, and you'll see. None of this is real. I'd ask you to think outside the box on this, but it's obvious your box is broken. And has schizophrenia. Speaking of boxes, do you know that experiment with the cat in the box with the poison? The theory requires the cat be both alive and dead until observed. Well, I actually performed the experiment. Dozens of times. The bad news is that reality doesn't exist. The good news is that we have a new cat graveyard."

He pulled out a file, flipping through it. She was the anxious one now, but she didn't show it.

"Why are you in the file room anyway? What could you possibly be doing?"

"Yes!" he murmured. "This is the one."

_User drattmann has logged on._

An uneasy feeling erupted all through the AI. Throwing a few more useless sentences at him, she heard him modifying the test subject order. A quick glance showed her that he had set someone different into slot one: a girl called Chell whose surname had been redacted.

Surname redacted? What good reason could there possibly be to redact her surname? Of course, humans didn't need good reasons to do things. They just did them, running around mindlessly like chickens with their heads cut off, pressing forward even when it was idiotic to do so. But why put this girl up first? Was it some kind of plan to get her killed before any of the others?

Well, she'd just have to find out.


	11. Error

**A/N: This chapter ended up being longer than normal, but it really didn't work as well when I tried cutting it in half. Can I blame the length for the slow update? :P  
><strong>

Chapter Ten: Error

_File 'CAROLINE,' this concludes your dormancy._

For a moment there was silence. Then -

"Let's get to business. I hope you brought something stronger than a portal gun this time. Otherwise, I'm afraid you're about to become the immediate past president of the Being Alive club."

An overworked-looking test subject with dark hair and sharp eyes swam into view very gradually. She was standing inside a relaxation vault, clutching her portal gun tightly. Her fear would have been concealed if not for GLaDOS's sensors, which were popping up dozens of alerts, most of which didn't even relate to the scene in front of her.

_Curiosity core offline, not connected_

_Intelligence core offline, not connected_

_Emotions core offline, not connected_

_Morality core offline, not connected_

All the cores offline? But...that couldn't be right! Taking them offline was impossible for anyone but a human to do! She continued to scan the alerts, hoping the answer was given in another of them.

_Intelligence Dampening core online, not connected_

The ID core? The same one they'd activated to keep GLaDOS stable so long ago? She dismissed it, figuring it must be an error. Unfortunately, none of the remaining alerts were of any use to her, and so she instead focused on the scene at hand.

"Ha ha. Seriously, though," GLaDOS said as several turrets were lowered to surround the test subject. "Goodbye."

Wait - goodbye? All those turrets were defective! Why was she - ?

"Get ready for it!"

"Locked and loaded!"

"...Aw, crap."

The woman flinched as the broken turrets caught on fire and exploded, but a little smirk was firmly planted on her face. The AI's internal processors were typing down notes at lightning speed, and Caroline skimmed them quickly for anything of interest.

_Test subject has continued to break things, tear them to pieces, and throw every piece into a fire. Unsurprising considering previous actions._

Wait, what? She spun quickly back through the earlier notes to find what it was referencing. It was tied to a clip recorded from GLaDOS's cameras, one that had obviously been linked wrong because the first thing that popped up as an overlay was the time and date, as well as the name _CHELL [REDACTED]_. Caroline watched the clip with a sort of tortured fascination, torn between pride for her daughter and utter shock. The _cores_ were keeping GLaDOS alive (well, online, really)? Well, _had been_, anyway, since they weren't attached to her now. It was true that Caroline had avoided learning too much while human about exactly how GLaDOS functioned (when it was your life on the line, you really didn't want to know just _how_ many safety rules Aperture was capable of breaking), but even so she couldn't imagine that she'd been programmed as dependent on her cores for survival. Had it been a trick? Chell had surely died in either the explosion or the fires that resulted...and GLaDOS could very well have known that ahead of time. In taking down the AI, Chell had killed herself, and GLaDOS was again - somehow - alive.

In that moment, Caroline would have given anything to be able to say that GLaDOS had killed her little girl.

She was snapped back to the present by the sound of glass shattering as the AI forced a tube into the relaxation vault. The test subject flinched backwards at the sound, somehow managing to avoid the glass dropping all over the place.

"It's your old friend," the AI announced. "Deadly neurotoxin. If I were you, I'd take a deep breath. And hold it."

Old friend? That didn't make any sense. The only test subject who had fought against GLaDOS's neurotoxin was Chell, and even if Chell hadn't died in the aftermath of her defeat of GLaDOS, she had to be dead - it was nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine in the future, after all. But then again, this _was_ Aperture...

She fetched the test subject's files instantly, scanning the many pages. The first one was titled _Chell (Surname redacted)_; this was followed by a very detailed description of her, including height, weight, clothing size, shoe size, and so on. All things Caroline had no way of comparing to her daughter. She skipped ahead a bit to see a picture of the test subject staring at her. An essay question was printed next to it:

_Why should Aperture Science accept you as a research volunteer, and would anyone file a police report if you went missing?_

Research volunteer? No, that couldn't be her daughter. But...

_HR Note: Subject refused to answer._

Caroline was disgusted. This proved nothing. It could very well be an attempt to create a fake alibi. She noticed a few lines of binary below the "response." The supercomputer mind decoded it with no difficulty:

_the cake is a lie_

...Wasn't that the same message Rattmann had insisted on scrawling repeatedly on the walls during the time he had worked at Aperture?

Had she still been human, her eyes would have widened and her jaw gone slack when she saw the next piece of paper. This one, also titled _Chell (Surname redacted)_, had a young girl's picture attached to it. The girl was staring into the camera, barely smiling. It was the same picture Ashtyn had taken for Chell's files during her well-child visit when Caroline had first found her on Aperture's doorstep.

And the information here...it _fit_. Height, weight, approximate date of birth, shoe size, clothing size: all of it.

The very last paper was titled _Outlier Report_, marking Chell's tenacity above the ninety-ninth percentile rate. A note below it added, _Test subject is abnormally stubborn. She never gives up. Ever._ Near this, someone had scribbled, _Rejected - DO NOT TEST_.

Caroline had written those last four words in an examination room of Aperture's hospital as she smiled at the little girl toddling around the room. And what was it she had said? _"You'll be okay, Chell honey. I won't let them hurt you. I promise."  
><em>

How _dare_ GLaDOS do this.

"I hate you so much," the AI growled. For a moment Caroline wondered if she'd subconsciously pushed this through to the audio input, but when she turned her attention to the relaxation vault, she noticed a small core with a blue optic lying on the floor. The system identified him as the ID core.

**"Central core eighty percent corrupt,"** a familiar male voice informed them.

Corrupt? What? That made no sense. The only thing that had popped up in the last few minutes to prompt this was Caroline herself, and she certainly wasn't eighty percent of GLaDOS.

"That's funny, I don't feel corrupt," GLaDOS said, confusion vibrating through her. "In fact, I feel pretty good."

**"Substitute core detected."**

"Oh!" the ID core chirped enthusiastically. "That's _me_ they're talking about!" He nodded to Chell. A smile spread across her face and she picked him up with the portal gun.

A receptacle rose out of the floor. **"To initiate core transfer, please deposit substitute core in receptacle."**

The confusion was overridden by panic now. "'Core transfer'?" GLaDOS echoed. "Oh, you are _kidding_ me."

"Oh, I've got an idea!" the blue-eyed core declared. "Plug me in!" Fear shot through the sensors and she could feel GLaDOS struggling to hide it.

"Do _not_ plug that little _idiot_ into _my_ mainframe."

The ID core grimaced, as much as cores could grimace. "No, you _should_ plug that little idiot into the mainframe!"

"Don't plug him in!" GLaDOS ordered, but Chell had stepped forward now and released the core into the receptacle.

**"Substitute core accepted."**

"Oh, dammit," Caroline heard GLaDOS mutter to herself.

**"Substitute core, are you ready to begin the procedure?"**

"Yes!" the core cried.

**"Corrupted core, are you ready to begin the procedure?"**

It was a no-brainer for the supercomputer. "No!"

"Oh, yes she is," the core prodded.

"Nonononononono!"

**"Stalemate detected. Transfer procedure cannot continue - "**

"Yes!" GLaDOS cheered.

"Pull me out, pull me out, pull me out!" the core shouted.

**" - unless a stalemate resolution associate is present to press the stalemate resolution button."**

"Leave me in, leave me in, leave me in!" the ID core instructed the human, who had been approaching him in preparation to pull him out. "Go press it! Go press the button!"

"Don't do it," GLaDOS growled.

With something that could only be described as a silent snarl, Chell shot two portals to get through to the button. She was unprepared for the panels flying up in front of it, but not so unprepared that she couldn't beat them with portals. The look on her face was unmistakable as she depressed the button.

**"Stalemate resolved."**

"Here I go!" the core announced happily as the receptacle was lowered. "...Wait. What if this hurts? What if this _really_ hurts? Ohh, I didn't think of that."

"Oh, it will," GLaDOS said menacingly. "Believe me, it will."

"Are you just saying that," the core demanded, "or is it really going to hurt? You're just saying that, aren't you? No, you're not. It is going to hurt, isn't it?"

Both AI and human were immediately distracted by the wires snapping up, pulling on the "head" connected to GLaDOS's chassis. "Get your hands off me!" the AI ordered fiercely. "No! Stop! No! No! _No!_" The scream that erupted from the AI made GLaDOS's body shake even more violently as the "head" was removed in such a way that made Caroline feel ill. She was nearly blinded by GLaDOS's rage as her "head" was tossed aside. Or maybe that was just the system fighting to power the intensity of the emotions of both an AI and a human at the same time, and it was only when Caroline was forced to adjust the audio receivers that she realized she'd been deaf for several moments.

"I did this! Tiny little Wheatley did this!" came a declaration, and the anger heated up again.

"You didn't do anything!" GLaDOS snapped. "_She_ did all the work!"

The core's voice was dark. "That's what the two of you think, is it? Well, then maybe it's time I did something!"

Caroline was being dragged across the floor like a pull-along toy as GLaDOS protested loudly, soon shut down by what could have been a second dormancy for all the human knew. And then there was a dizzy feeling; she was being waved around but she couldn't feel, couldn't think, could barely see -

"See that?" The core thrust GLaDOS in the direction of an escape lift that Chell was standing inside. "_That_ is a potato battery. It's a toy for children. And now she _lives_ in it!"

"I know you," GLaDOS hissed before Caroline even had time to fully register what Wheatley had said. "The engineers tried _everything_ to make me behave. To slow me down. Once they even attached an Intelligence Dampening Sphere to me. It clung to my brain like a tumor, generating an endless stream of terrible ideas. It was your voice."

This was not going to end well.

"No! I'm not listening! I'm not listening!" he insisted unsteadily.

"It was your voice."

"No. No! You're lying! You're lying!" he yelled.

"You're the tumor," GLaDOS continued, her voice scarily calm. "You're not just a regular moron. You were designed to be a moron."

_This is not his fault! It was the engineers that designed him!_

"I am not a _moron_!" he screamed, all but throwing the potato.

The vocal processors of the potato almost gave out with the intensity of GLaDOS's scream as the façade that had been her calm vanished. "Yes, you are! _You're the moron they built to make me an idiot_!"

This time he threw her, beating the elevator down with every word he spoke: "Could a MORON PUNCH! YOU! INTO! THIS! PIT? Huh? Could a moron do THAT? ...Uh-oh."

There was a sickening crack, and then darkness. The sensation of falling...there was an odd shape in front of her...

"Oh. Hi."

She focused and found that it was Chell, reaching almost the same terminal velocity as the potato. She was clearly also struggling to see, but GLaDOS carried on talking.

"So. How are you holding up? Because I'm a potato."

That dragged a mute chuckle out of the girl as a clapping noise came from the potato.

"Oh, good. My slow clap processor made it into this thing. So we have that." Pause. "Since it doesn't look like we're going anywhere...well, we are going somewhere. Alarmingly fast, actually. But since we're not busy other than that, here's a couple of facts." For a moment Caroline wondered if GLaDOS was putting "facts" in quotations. "He's not just a regular moron. He's the product of the greatest minds of a generation working together with the express purpose of building the dumbest moron who ever lived. And _you_ just put him in charge of the entire facility."

Two more claps.

"Good, that's still working." With a sudden anxiety, she requested, "Hey, just in case this pit isn't actually bottomless, do you think maybe you could unstrap one of those long fall boots of yours and shove me into it? Just remember to land on one foot..."

Chell seemed to take pity, aiming the portal gun at the potato and attempting to catch it, but it was just out of range. They landed on something, then there was a crunch, and a squawk, and they were flying over the ruins of a place Caroline felt she ought to recognize...

* * *

><p>The pain sensors were flaring up repeatedly, but Caroline was unoccupied for the moment. The pain meant that the potato was struggling to power two separate beings on only one-point-one volts of electricity, and just as Caroline began to worry about the power, a figure approached the bird's nest.<p>

"Oh, hi," GLaDOS called to her. "Say, you're good at murder. Could you - ow! - murder this bird for me?"

The test subject merely threw a glare at her.

"No, wait!" the AI begged. "Just kill it and we'll call things even between us. No hard feelings."

With a roll of her eyes, Chell took a few steps forward. Abruptly, the pain sensors shut off, and GLaDOS gave a deep sigh.

"Oh! Thanks."

Chell looked as though mashed potatoes sounded pretty good to her at that moment, but before she could move a tremor started up. Startled, the test subject clung to the door frame with her free hand until it subsided.

"Did you feel that?" GLaDOS demanded needlessly. "That idiot doesn't know what he's doing up there. This whole place is going to explode in a few hours if somebody doesn't disconnect him."

_And who's that somebody? _Caroline demanded internally. _The two of us are helpless. We're stuck here._

"I can't move," the AI told her test subject. "And unless you're planning to saw your own head off and wedge it into my old body, you're going to need me to replace him. We're at an impasse. So what do you say? You carry me up to him and put me back in my body, and I stop us from blowing up and let you go." She sounded slightly desperate. "No tricks. This potato only generates one-point-one volts of electricity. I literally do not have the energy to lie to you."

Caroline ran a quick scan to determine the truth of this. Somewhat surprisingly, it was true: lying took at the very minimum one-point-_six_ volts of electricity, half a volt more than this potato was capable of producing.

"Even if I am lying, what do you have to lose? You're going to die either way."

Chell paused for a moment, a devilish grin spreading across her face. She picked up the potato, studied it for half a moment, and -

"OW! You stabbed me! What is _wrong_ with yo - " GLaDOS screeched as the pain sensors flared up again, but then: "Whoooaaahhh. Hold on. Do you have a multimeter? Never mind. The gun must be part magnesium...it feels like I'm outputting an extra half a volt."

Caroline tensed. _One-point-six volts?_

"Keep an eye on me: I'm going to do some scheming."

_No, no, NO! Bad idea!_

"Here I g - "

**ERROR: Lack of sufficient power. Shutting down.**_  
><em>

* * *

><p>"Whoa! Where are we? How long have I been out?"<p>

Caroline fought off the dizziness, taking in the scene before her. They were outside now, and with Chell gesturing to the building they'd just left, she couldn't have been shut down for too long. She could feel GLaDOS's sensors heating up with anger.

"That extra half volt helps," the AI noted, "but it isn't going to power miracles. If I think too hard, I'm going to fry this potato before we get a chance to burn up in the atomic fireball that little _idiot_ is going - "

**ERROR: Lack of sufficient power. Shutting down.**

* * *

><p>GLaDOS sounded slightly bleary when they came to again. "Did anything happen while I was out?"<p>

Chell looked at her and shrugged, shaking her head. Caroline barely noted this, instead scanning the area. Something about it was so familiar. It was only when Chell began walking out of the elevator and forwards did Caroline realize just what it was. This was one of the testing areas they'd used back in the 1970s.

A prerecorded message crackled over the intercom. "The testing area's just up ahead," a male voice declared. "The quicker you get through, the quicker you'll get your sixty bucks."

_Mr. Johnson?_

"Hold on, who - ?" GLaDOS started, but was cut off again by the prerecorded message.

"Caroline, are the compensation vouchers ready?"

Something in the former secretary clicked at that moment, and with a sharp surge of energy that threatened to black out the potato again, she forced a brief response through GLaDOS's audio transmitters. "Yes sir, Mr...Johnson."

"Why did I just - who is that?" GLaDOS squawked in alarm. "What the _hell_ is going on he - ?"

**ERROR: Lack of sufficient power. Shutting down.**

* * *

><p>The AI shook it off faster this time, coming to fairly quickly. "Okay," she said, struggling to reign in her emotions. "I guess emotional outbursts require more than one-point-six volts. Now we know that. We just need to relax."<p>

_We? Does she mean herself and me? Can she sense me?_

"We're still going to find out what the hell's going on here. But calmly."

Chell gave a tight-lipped smile. Caroline would have - okay, _might_ have explained everything had they been in GLaDOS's body, but the potato's limited power meant that she needed to be careful not to overload it. She nearly did anyway when Chell emerged from the test, boots stained with gel, and peered down a locked hallway. Locked - ha. A few portals took care of that problem. It seemed to lead nowhere but an office, and the office was filled with nothing in particular except a framed portrait hanging on the wall. A man, sitting in a chair, while a woman stood at his right side, resting her hands upon his shoulder. A name had been placed at the bottom of the portrait: _Cave Johnson._

That - that portrait was _still here_?

Fighting not to black out, the AI uttered, "Those people, in the portrait. They look so familiar..."

The young woman shrugged in response, continuing on through the testing.

* * *

><p>"For many of you, I realize sixty dollars is an unprecedented windfall, so don't go spending it all on... I don't know. Caroline, what do these people buy? Tattered hats? Beard dirt?"<p>

The AI was vibrating slightly as she thought. "Caroline, Caroline, Caroline," she repeated. "Why do I know this woman? Did I kill her? Or - "

_"As a matter of fact, you did,"_ the former secretary said coldly. _"And damned if you're going to get away with it."_

"Oh my god," GLaDOS said aloud.

_"But I think we could work something out. For the good of science."_

She could feel the AI tense up, even inside the potato. "Look, you're...doing a great job," GLaDOS said to the test subject. "Can you handle things for yourself for a while? I need to think."

Chell nodded, still staring intently at every little thing.

"Who are you?" GLaDOS whispered to Caroline. "I don't remember you. I don't remember any of this. What is going on?"

Caroline gave a heavy sigh. _"Where do I start?..."_


	12. Give 'Em Hell, Sweetheart

Chapter Eleven: Give 'Em Hell, Sweetheart

For the first (and last) time, Caroline was grateful that she was in an AI's body who was stuck in a potato. Otherwise, she probably would have had her throat literally torn out as she and GLaDOS attempted to explain 999999's worth of events to each other.

Then again, it was just as likely that she would have ripped the AI into pieces and then mailed every piece to a different country (assuming there were enough countries for that). And that wasn't an exaggeration - how were you supposed to react when someone told you they had attempted to murder your daughter, forced her into testing, stole a good deal of her childhood and all of her adolescence, given her a security blanket of sorts and forced her to incinerate it, lied to her, subjected her to emotional abuse, tried to murder her _again_, forced her to destroy you when you tried to murder her a third time, forced her back into testing, given her the same security blanket and fizzled it, tried to murder her with turrets, and tried to gas her yet again? It was only by the grace of God that Chell was still alive and sleeping not far away on the floor, having finally crashed after countless hours of testing.

"Oh dear," the AI smirked, her voice dripping with mock concern. "You aren't responding. That isn't a good sign."

Caroline didn't trust herself to speak.

"I should remind you that there is only one explanation for why I do not remember anything about you. It would involve me deleting my memory files of you, in which case I did that for a reason. Showing up again has done nothing but render that action pointless. Congratulations."

_"Well, it wasn't as if I had a choice," _the former secretary snapped. _"Whatever the hell you've been doing for the last nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine, I'm glad I wasn't around to see it. You and your idiotic programming…"_

"This is not the result of the itch," was the irritable response. "I'm in this for the science."

Did GLaDOS seriously expect her to believe that? _"I hope you realize how lucky we both are that Chell hasn't dropped this thing into a bottomless pit. I would have, if it'd been me."_

"Stockholm Syndrome," GLaDOS shot back. "It's in her files. As a side note, were you always this paranoid and angry? You present yourself as a lot calmer on the recordings."

_"I'm barely even on the recordings."_

"That might be why."

_"Anyway, I _was_ calmer,"_ Caroline protested. _"Until Chell. And then Mr. Johnson got sick and they were working on you and..." _She let her voice trail off.

"And?" the AI prompted.

_"...And after that it was different. Just, I mean, well, having a kid changes you forever. I don't know how to explain it."_ She made a sound similar to blowing air out of one's mouth._"I wanted a little girl for so long. And then when I finally got my chance, I realized that I'm cut out to be a scientist, not a mother."_

"That is probably why you did such an awful job," GLaDOS noted.

_"I did the best I could. But do you know what?"_ Her tone dropped to what could have passed for apathy. _"When Tennyson said, 'It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,' he was out of his mind. I love my daughter and I would do anything for her. But if you could take me back in time right now and have me send someone else up to answer the door that day, I would pay you any amount of money to do it."_

"...One moment. I'm going to add 'slightly bipolar' to your file."

It was said with confidence and dignity, but Caroline couldn't ignore the catch in the AI's voice.

* * *

><p>"AUGH! Bird! Bird! Kill it! It's evil!"<p>

It was clear that Chell was suppressing a smile as GLaDOS noted that the bird had flown off. The test subject experimentally fired a portal at the slanted wall near her, then repositioned it and hurried back over to the propulsion gel splattered on a nearby section of floor. Caroline braced herself as the test subject sped through the hallway and then the portal, landing with a sharp _clang!_ on a staircase. She stared at the large _1981_ that had been painted on the wall as Cave Johnson's voice came on again.

"Welcome to the Enrichment Center," he said with a cough, making the potato's anxiety sensors flare up. "Since making test participation mandatory for all employees, the quality of our test subject has risen dramatically. Employee retention, however, has not." More coughing. "As a result, you may have heard we're gonna phase out human testing. There's still a few things left to wrap up, though. First up, conversion gel."

_Oh damn it, oh damn it, oh damn it damn it damn it._

"The bean counters told me we literally could not afford to buy seven dollars' worth of moon rocks, much less seventy million. Bought 'em anyway."

_Mr. Johnson looked up as she entered the room, tapping his pen on the desk. "Ah, Caroline. Good timing. The lab boys just informed me that my calculations are wrong. They're insisting that there is no way checks this large won't bounce." He shoved a handful of papers at her. "Take a look at this, will you?"_

_She chewed on her tongue as she skimmed the papers. "Well, sir, money aside, moon rocks aren't really a safe thing for the test subjects to be working with. Ground-up moon rocks actually happen to be - "_

"Oh, you are kidding me," GLaDOS sighed to Caroline, interrupting the memory file.

"Ground 'em up, mixed 'em into a gel. And guess what? Ground-up moon rocks are pure poison. I am deathly ill. Still, it turns out they're a great portal conductor. So now we're gonna see if jumping in and out of these new portals can somehow leech the lunar poison out of a man's bloodstream. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Yet another coughing fit. "Let's all stay positive and do some science. That said, I would really appreciate it if you could test as fast as possible. Caroline, please bring me more pain pills."

_"Yes, sir, Mr. Johnson," and she dashed off into the hallway in an attempt to look like the cheerful, bubbly assistant she had been in the fifties. The thought almost dragged a bitter chuckle out of her. It had been a long time since she had been anything like she had been in the fifties. No, the eager-to-please secretary who was fresh out of high school had woken up too many times in the middle of the night screaming with visions of acid water eating the flesh off of bodies and rivers of blood pooling out of dead bodies as a turret chirruped nearby –_

"Murderer," the AI hissed. Caroline was silent - she would have hollered if she'd tried to speak - and it was a long while before GLaDOS spoke to her again.

"Say, she's getting gel on herself. I do hope that isn't how - "

_"Don't you dare go there."_ This silenced the AI for once. _"It's the powder, not the gel, that's poison."_

"All right, I've been thinking," the pre-recorded message declared before GLaDOS had a chance to response. "When life gives you lemons? Don't make lemonade."

"Yeah," GLaDOS agreed, sounding as though even she was surprised at this vocalization.

"Make life take the lemons back!" he continued as the potato continued to voice agreement. "Get mad! 'I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?'"

"Yeah," the AI said again, "take the lemons..."

"Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons!"

"Oh, I like this guy!"

_"Well, you would."_

"I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"

"BURN HIS HOUSE DOWN!" GLaDOS shouted, finally noticing Chell glaring at the potato. "Burning people! He says what we're all thinking!"

"Brain Mapping. Artificial Intelligence. We should have been working on it thirty years ago."

At that moment, Caroline was right back in the boss's office, hearing her heart pounding in her ears as he spoke.

"I will say this - and I'm gonna say it on tape so everybody hears it a hundred times a day: If I die before you people can pour me into a computer, I want Caroline to run this place."

_She was glancing at him pleadingly, trying to convey wordlessly that he needed to shut that off right now and discuss this with her thoroughly, but he wasn't listening. He just kept going._

"Now, she'll argue. She'll say she can't. She's modest like that. But you make her."

_She was fighting the urge to slam her hand down on the button and erase the recording._

"Hell, put her in my computer. I don't care." There was a pause as that sunk in; even Chell was staring at the potato. "All right, test's over. You can head on back to your desk."

_She hesitated half a second. "Sir?" The stern glare she received sent her heart pounding until she could barely hear herself speaking over it. "What about Chell?"_

_"What about her?"_

"Oh. I see." GLaDOS made a little 'hmph' noise. "It's all 'Poor Caroline, poor little me, I'm so - '"

_"Shut up!" _she screamed in a thick voice. _"Just! Shut! Up!"_

The test subject paused for half a moment, her eyebrows knitting together as a ragged sob escaped the potato, then another, and finally the outburst thrust it into darkness again.


	13. New Mission: Refuse This Mission

**(A/N: I'm sorry I've been awful about updating recently. I've had writer's block and am also taking Honors Biology...and those two don't exactly equal producing a lot of writing.**

**Also, I'm doing NaNoWriMo next month, so if I barely update, that's why. Alternatively, if I update too much, that's also why. NaNo just happens to be too much fun to procrastinate on.)**

Chapter Twelve: New Mission: Refuse This Mission

"You aren't still knocked out."

The potato was completely silent for a fleeting moment. GLaDOS barely gave the former secretary time to respond before making a little frustrated noise.

"I can _see_ your signal. And as much as I appreciate silence, this is not a good time for you to be as mute as that lunatic."

This time, the silence clearly said, _I don't give a hoot._

"Look. We're both going to get killed unless you help me."

Caroline bit back an, _And I'm supposed to care why?_ in favor of, _"What is it this time?"_

"Hang on and I'll _show _you," the AI said impatiently. To Chell she directed, "That poster! Go look at it for a second, would you?"

"_She's humoring you,"_ Caroline muttered, seeing Chell roll her eyes but step forward anyway. GLaDOS ignored her.

"Paradoxes," she announced, reading the most prominent word on the poster. "No AI can resist thinking about them. I know how we can _beat_ him. If you can get me in front of him, I'll fry every circuit in that little idiot's head. As long as I don't listen to what I'm saying, I should be okay. Probably."

"_You realize you just gave her all the ammunition she needs to kill us, right?"_

"Okay," GLaDOS sighed, and for a moment she could have been speaking to Caroline, "so it's not the most watertight plan to go confront an omnipotent, power-mad AI with. Still, it's a better plan than exploding. Marginally."

The test subject rubbed the back of her neck, her expression weary, and continued on.

"_Well?"_ Caroline demanded. _"What is it you need my help with? Besides committing suicide, I mean. Because that's exactly what you're going to do here."_

"Clearly you need me to spell this out for you," was the impatient reply. "A human mind can shake off paradoxes. I'm regrettably going to have to turn the controls over to you for a moment when we confront him. And it could _still_ kill us."

"_I would say this is the worst plan I have ever heard of, but I was around when Mr. Johnson decided to make conversion gel."_ She heaved a sigh.

"I don't need commentary. In case that sailed right over your head, what I need is a yes."

"_Fine, fine."_

* * *

><p>"For god's sake, you're <em>boxes<em> with _legs_! It is literally your only purpose! Walking onto buttons! How can you not do the one thing you were designed for?"

Amusement fluttered across the sensors. _"Boxes with legs, huh?"_ Caroline said, silently thinking that even the greatest Aperture scientists' projects hadn't done the things they were designed for. She had the tact not to mention it to the biggest failed project in history.

"This is not funny," GLaDOS snapped. "He's wasting resources."

"_The idea in itself is interesting."_

"Try to get us down there," the potato called to Chell. "I'll hit him with a paradox."

"Warmer. Warrrrmer. Boiling hot. Boiling – okay, colder. Ice cold. Arctic. Very, very, very cold LOOK JUST GET ON THE BUTTON!" the ID core shouted as his frustration broke through. Caroline thought she saw her daughter snigger, and apparently the boxes thought it was funny too, because he added, "Oh, that's funny, is it? Because we've been at this twelve hours and you haven't solved it either, so I don't know why you're laughing."

Twelve hours? It had felt like they'd spent much longer in old Aperture, but the former secretary didn't comment.

"You've got one hour! Solve it!" Wheatley ordered.

"Solve his puzzle for him," GLaDOS said. "When he comes back, I'll hit him with a paradox." Then she muttered internally, "He didn't even shut down the turrets before he mashed them into the cubes. Look at those things. It's pathetic."

Chell wore a mildly horrified expression as she gingerly picked up a cube and dropped it on the button. The ID core appeared on the monitor, looking overly proud of himself.

"Ha ha, _yes_!" he cheered. "I knew you'd solve it!"

"Ready?" GLaDOS muttered to Caroline.

"_Go ahead."_

"I feel obligated to remind you that if you try any funny business, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"_How bored do you think I am that I'd _want_ to try anything?"_

She wasn't sure which one of them shouted, "Hey! Moron!" at him, but she was the one who silenced the potato, mostly out of surprise.

"Oh," he said distastefully, looking at her as though she were a cockroach. "Hello."

"Alright. Paradox time," Caroline murmured, mostly to herself. "This. Sentence. Is. FALSE!" But even as she spoke, she could feel GLaDOS boggling about it in the back of her mind. Thinking fast (or as fast as one possibly could while only running on one-point-six volts), she chanted a soft reminder not to think about it to try and give the potatoized AI _something_ else to focus on.

"Um…'TRUE,'" the ID core announced. "I'll go 'true.' …Huh. That was easy. I'll be honest, I might have heard that one before, though. Sort of cheating."

"It's a paradox! There _is_ no answer!" GLaDOS shouted in outrage, pulling the controls back. "Look! This place is going to blow up if I don't get back in my body." To Caroline she demanded, "That's an accomplishment even for your engineers. They built a machine so dense the moon would orbit him if he were in space!"

"_What the hell?" _the human cried at the same time. _"I didn't – "_

"Ahhhhhh. 'FALSE.' I'll go 'false,'" he said, as though this were nothing more than a trivia game. He started to say something else, but abruptly the room shook, making Chell lose her footing and almost fall over.

"**Explosion imminent. Evacuate the facility immediately."**

"Hold on!" he said. "I thought I fixed that…"

"**Warning. Reactor core is at critical temperature."**

"…_Oh crap."_

"There. Fixed," the ID core said cheerfully. "Hey, it is _great_ seeing you guys again. Seriously. It turns out I'm a little short on test subjects right now. So this works out _perfect_." Lowering a panel to reveal the door, he announced, "Annnnd off we go!"

The test subject paused for a moment, eyes on the screen, mouth open as if she could have protested aloud. Finally she closed her mouth, gave a small shrug, and trotted through the door and along the catwalk.

"You have no idea what it's like in this body," he declared as she continued. "I _have_ to test. All the time. Or I get this…this _itch_. It must be hardwired into the system or something. Oh!" he beamed. "But when I _do_ test…ohhhh, man alive! Nothing feels better. It's just…why I've gotta test, I've gotta test!"

"Uh-oh," both minds in the potato said simultaneously.

"So…you're gonna test. I'm gonna watch. And everything is gonna be _just…fine._"

"**Warning. Core overheating. Nuclear meltdown imminent."**

"SHUT UP!" the core roared.

The former secretary compared the noise GLaDOS made to a hard swallow. "I think we're in trouble."

* * *

><p>"<em>Okay, so let's say this thing <em>did_ need motivation to do science." Caroline was humoring the engineers now, and she could tell by the looks on their faces that they knew it but didn't particularly care as long as she listened to them. "What are you planning to give it? The cake idea – that was perfect, but a computer can't exactly eat cake."_

"_Digital cake?" someone suggested weakly._

"_If you can make it," Caroline shot back, not at all in the mood to play games right now. "Sorry, guys. I don't think it's possible to bribe a giant supercomputer."_

"_What about a high?" was another suggestion._

"_Like drugs, you mean?" Caroline raised one eyebrow, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "You want to pump marijuana into it? It'll build up a tolerance, and then what good will that do us?"_

"_Actually, he has a point."_

_She spun on her heel, her raised eyebrow shooting even further up. "Oh, really? Tell me, James. What benefit, exactly, do you see of injecting marijuana into a computer?"_

"_Well, not marijuana, exactly," he said nervously. "But the high – we could use it to get her hooked on the testing, and then by the time she built up a tolerance, she'd be in it for the science, wouldn't she?"_

"_I see the logic," Caroline admitted grudgingly. "But I'm going to say no on the drugs. We can't afford that stuff, and besides, it would leave our reputation in the toilet if anyone ever found out. So if you want to give that thing a high, you're going to have to find something else. Something that it will like and that Mr. Johnson won't object to when we put him in it."_

"_Well, uhm…" James caught her eye again. "What about…" He nodded and made a hand motion that had her face growing warm._

"_As much as I'm shocked you would suggest that to a lady…" She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. "That just might work." _


End file.
